Hi, friends!
Now it's very well known that current World Rally champion Thierry Neuville has some bigger problems in adaptations to official WRC Hankook tires. And he is not the only one. Double WRC champ Kalle Rovanpera already spoke about the same problem loud - Hankooks don't suit him well.
We drove on Hankook in 2023 and I can tell you that these tires are very tough and you can have a puncture almost never (we had two on this year's Monte Carlo Rallye) but performance is not on the level of Pirelli or Michelin. Hankook holds a grip until one moment and after that moment you are out of the road easily. On the other hand, Pirelli and especially Michelin hold progressively and there isn't that moment after you are in the big trouble. You can be very confident with Pirelli and Michelin about the grip but not so much with the Hankooks.
That's probably the reason why we didn't see Neuville on the top of the podium this year and that's why they test to find that needed balance with the set-up with tires. They (Hyundai) know that with hard work there will be some good result behind the corner.
We have a video from pre-event test with Thierry Neuville and Hyundai i20 Rally1 ahead of Acropolis Rally Greece, which is one of my favorite WRC events.
Please enjoy...
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